After Pink
Flag, which shocked us all by the ferocity of the favorable reviews,
we had to make an interim single before embarking on what was to be Chairs
Missing. Suddenly, the group was on the precarious edge of
commercial viability, despite the limited response to the first single
from that record (Mannequin). The singer and second guitarist, Colin Newman,
had acquired an MXR Flanger pedal (I forget how, but I remember acutely
that the one I bought out of my own pocket, specifically for the single's
recording sessions, was over £100 ($200 in 1978). The essence
of the single seemed to be turning all the controls to maximum. That
became the introduction to the track, and a classic sound. Somehow,
that introductory sound reminds me inescapably of Colin's personality.

We
experimented considerably on these quick sessions (taking about
three days for the whole recording). The loutish singalong chorus
was a cheerful departure
('I am the fly in the ointment/I can spread more disease/Than the
fleas that nibble away/At your window display').
People often took Wire more seriously than they took themselves, but
everyone cared deeply about what they were doing. The control room arguments
were endless and furious, although the most bitter shouting exchanges
would usually generate an improvement in the record under construction. Anyone's
idea was accepted for tryout; the good off-the-wall ones raised the
standard, the bad ones raised a good laugh.

At
EMI, executives were mildly roused by the vinyl result. Wire had
not been a group to schmooze unduly; their friends were acquired strictly
through the medium of the music. One
particularly conservative executive, a frequent corporate cultural
adversary, commented in a marketing meeting that 'it's funny, but it
really sticks in your head'. The cross-cultural
appeal was appreciated. Two years later, I was on the phone
from London to a friend in New York when the song came on WPLJ in
the background of her hotel room. The timing was so corny,
it had to be real. It
wasn't American big hit radio, but the track was working for people
and it was half way to culture shock having a strong reaction from
New York and Los Angeles.

When
the second album was recorded, there was hot debate about whether I
Am The Fly should be included, the spirit of the time being
to provide as much value on the album for the fans as possible
and not resell them something they had already acquired. But the strength of the track
forced it on us, even if it was the middle track on the second side of
the vinyl album.

-
MT March 2000

I
Am The Fly is included in the original Wire album Chairs
Missing, and
in the collection of tracks from their early years, On Returning.

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